Grilled Cochon Bleu!

After a slight propane fiasco at 8:30 this morning... and thanks to Bradley for being my knight in shining armor by letting me 'borrow' his propane tank... here's the recipe for the pork chops I entered in today's cooking contest at the NC State Fair. It was sponsored by the NC Pork Council and had to be an original recipe with 3 oz of any cut of pork + 1 oz of bacon. I didn't win any ribbons or dineros, but there was a little sticker on my pan when I got it back denoting it was in the top 6!! Wahoo!!


This is NOT mine... but I forgot to take its picture,
so thanks to google images this is fairly close.

 Grilled Cochon Bleu

Ingredients:
6 boneless pork chops
6 slices deli-thin ham
6 slices Swiss cheese
salt and pepper
1 lb sliced bacon
toothpicks

Directions:

Heat grill to medium heat.

Pound pork chops to 1/3 inch thickness using smooth side of meat mallet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place one slice of ham and one slice of cheese on top of pork chop. Roll up and wrap with two slices of bacon. Use toothpicks to hold closed.

Place on grill and cook 5 minutes on each side. Turn up heat and grill until bacon is desired crispiness. Remove toothpicks and serve immediately.

Serves 6

Related

Last night on Facebook I made a comment in regards to my marital status and the fact that I would be traveling home for my winter holiday break (instead of taking a cruise to the Caribbean). This afternoon as I read the comments, I noticed the sidebar to the right...the one that says 'Related to your post.'

There was one for Love Actually, a movie (supposedly, I've never actually seen it) about all sorts of chaos as people fall in/out/around/about love right before Christmas.

The other was for something related to Harry Potter.

So is this to say that my love life will suddenly appear in a dramatic, yet funny, way around Christmas, and probably in an airport? Or is it just saying that it really is just a fantasy?

I can't help but wonder...

We have a winner!!

It may come as a surprise, but I have a strange fascination with the NC State Fair. 

Last year, I threw caution to the wind and entered a 'blogging contest' sponsored by the press office. Specifically, I blogged about my need to be the Deep Fried Ambassador.

I still remember that momentous day. 

I was traveling with a friend back from a work conference in Asheville, NC. 

We had been working all weekend and were just ready to be back in the Triangle. 

As we stopped to fuel up before heading back down the mountain, 

my friend Lisa called me shouting, 

"You won! You won!"

I remember that I had no clue what she was talking about. 

As I had been working the entire weekend, I couldn't reframe my memory to any outside pursuits...

but she quickly reminded me!

Oh, and what a prize I won!

I had the opportunity to rub shoulders with the big wigs of the State Fair,

talk to the media,

come to the fair anytime I wanted

and of course eat all the fried food I could muster. 

And tell the world about my love... 

It was fabulous. 

As the Ex-Officio Deep Fried Ambassador for 2011,

I felt like I needed to keep the momentum going. 

So I convinced several of my Deep Fried Friends that this year was the year of competition!

Between us, we have entered cookies, herbs, bread, scrapbook pages, plants, sweet potato recipes, cupcakes, pies, bacon, and beef. Oh... and then we threw some horseshoes. 

And let me just tell you... I hang with some pretty awesome people!!

I got 4th premium on one of my scrapbook pages!

(celebrating the State Fair of course!)

Britt is the 2011 NC State Fair Women's Division CHAMPION!

Katie Baker provided some fierce competition and came in 2nd!

I just look good with horeshoes and red bug sunglasses... ha! 

(and will be back next year to demand a rematch!)

Allyson's lemon meringue cupcakes were in the top 7!!!

...and man were they tasty!

and Britt got "Best New Entrant" pie

and 3rd place overall in the Pet-Ritz pie competition!!!!

(I love having friends who can bake!)

So at the end of this totally awesome and win filled weekend, 

I can't help but think (in my best Hogway Speedway announcer voice)

We Have a Winner!!!

and you know... while I'm happy the prizes for several of these events are rather substantial,

I'd be pleased as punch with a cheese doodle for a prize!

Keep Right

Have you ever noticed that when you hug people it is your right cheeks that meet...
Try hugging someone to the left...
Try it...
Seriously...
Awkward, right?

Why is that? Why are we a right sided hugging people?

So...in the last few weeks I've had some awkward hugging situations... both of which involved not keeping right.

The first was on a date. That should scream awkward for me anyway...but don't worry... I added to it. After realizing that we would have to part ways in a less than ideal circumstance (aka, in the car), there was the buckets seat console maneuvering that always lends itself to be a challenge. But thinking I could handle it with dignity and grace, I lean over... and instantly have a brain freeze as to which way to put my head. Como? What is this about?? My eyes drift... my head does this little bobble action right and left as if suspended by a spring...and then my nose hits near his left ear. Great. Grace out the window. Dignity gone. (sigh) He's probably thinking, "Who is the crazy woman who doesn't know how to give a car hug?? Is she trying to make the moves on me while at the vicinity of a parking deck? I better run while I can!!!" (Time will only tell where this fiasco leads!)

The second awkward situation was in the temple tonight. You'd think I'd be a little less awkward there... but not so much. I saw a sister I haven't seen in a while. I pass behind her as we exchange pleasantries and as I reach her other side, she reaches out to me. Side hugs. I can do those! This will be easy, I think to myself, as I start to sidle in for a good ole side hug. But no! She turns her body! Woah! If that's not a nonverbal cue for a front to front hug, I don't know what is! But I'm flexible... I can roll with it. But then a familiar bobbling starts in the vicinity of my C2 atlanto axial joint. I end up getting a kiss on my left cheek (which is always nice) and a friendly pat on the left shoulder. (sigh) Lucky for me she is about the most charming and sincere woman I've ever met and so I know she forgives my awkwardness and is probably laughing it off with her husband as I write this.

But my lesson is learned. In cars, in temples, on dates, with old friends.... in all areas of my life, I must strive to remember....

Keep right!

But I really do want to know why we hug to the right?Anyone know?

Champion

Since the beginning of the school year I've been working with a student who happens to be an illegal immigrant. It was not by choice. That was a choice his parents made, but as he now faces adulthood not to far in the future... he's having to deal with the consequences of that choice.



Thanks google images for this photo. It's pretty awesome



Some background... he moved to the US in late elementary school. He moved around a lot...I have my speculations as to why, as I'm sure most people do. He was referred to special education only a year after he had been in the US but the team, rightly, decided that he hadn't had enough time to learn English and there just wasn't enough information to determine if he had a disability. During this assessment, some good people did some good investigative work and found out that his education had been kind of hit or miss in his home country, too. So we have a kid that's been in and out of school for most of his life, he moves to the US and is expected to master the grade level curriculum within a year. We can thank No Child Left Behind for that crazy thinking. But in NCLB's defense... it's not impossible to teach kids quickly. It takes a lot of work, a lot of creative thinking, and it definitely helps if the student stays put.

For a variety of excuses reasons, interventions didn't really seem to happen for this young man. After an extra year in elementary school (cause we all know that research supports retention, especially for minority males... oh, wait...) he entered middle school. He still wasn't doing well academically and then started getting into trouble. But because no middle school principal wants a 16 year old wandering their halls, they push them on through despite their ability to demonstrate mastery of grade level concepts. A beautiful image, eh.

So now he's at my school. 16 years old and just starting high school. Within just a few days of school starting, his ESL teacher tells me that he had again been referred to special education while in middle school, but she has no idea whatever came of it. Well... butter my butt and call me a biscuit. After some heavy digging, I find some evidence. But not much. When asked about it, the previous school told us, "Well, he moved, so we didn't do anything with it." What about when he came back, was the question I wanted answered, but knew better than to bark up that tree.

So we start the process again... You know, now that's it more than 500 days over the 90 day time line.  We line up an interpreter to help with the meeting. We gather the team. We meet. He doesn't understand why this is happening. He's not going to a 'stupid class.' He's mad. Oh good, this is going well.

Thus starts some relationship and trust building on my part. We start having conversations about why. Why does he have to do this? Why is it important? How can it help him? Over the last few weeks I've had some very enlightening conversations with this young man. He works weekends doing construction to help his family pay bills and save for a car. He plays soccer for the high school. He has lived in several different parts of the country and can succinctly explain their cultural nuances. He finds reading English to be difficult. He has seen his family been torn apart by immigration laws. But despite all this, he has big dreams. He want to marry a cute girl and have a family. He wants to go to college. He wants to be an engineer.

But then he throws it at me...

"I can't do those things," he says.

"Why not?" I ask.

"Because I don't have my US papers."

There you have it. This kid is now considering dropping out of high school and just going to work because he doesn't see a future brighter than a green card. He knows there are people out there who don't want him to go to college merely because he's here illegally. A fact, which I may remind you, he had not control over.

And to make matters worse, my colleagues don't see how they can help him reach his goals. The higher up in the education system you go, the worse special education seems to get. Unfortunately, for other than just a few, the 'direct, explicit instruction' special education provides is more time on tests and a curriculum assistance class... a class they argue he already has under the ESL program. So why are we doing this anyway, I was asked? Because it's the right thing to do was the gist of my answer. And then one of my colleagues tells me, "You know, you are the only one pulling for this."

You bet I am.

I will fight for this kid to my dying day. I will push, and ask, and cajole, and torment his teachers until they provide the differentiation that he deserves. I'll talk, draw diagrams, and do anything I can to keep this kid in school. I want him to be an engineer, too.

We all need champions sometimes. We all need someone to root for us when no one else seems to. And if I can be that for him, I will be.... As a thank you to my own champions.

On a side note... all this has got me pondering... so many of my beautiful brown babies have been or will be faced with this same dilemma. The injustice of this has got me googling... and the DREAM Act may be my new found legislative passion. Where have I been the last year and half?? While I continue championing in my day to day work, I may just have to figure out how to get involved with this little piece of politics.

Almost time!!

Look what I saw today!!!

The mini donuts truck in kiddie-land...

and the Cary Methodists (with the ham biscuits)...

...and Al's French Fries.

and many of the stands looking towards Dorton 

(including the stand where you get deep fried mac & cheese! So yummy!)

And here was one of the stops for the day...

to drop off my scrapbooking entries 

at the Hobbies & Handicrafts building.

Thanks to the awesome staff who helped me get everything in order.

These folks are really great and I really appreciate their help!

And whoever made that crocheted Krispy Kreme burger - you're my new hero!!

It's almost here, friends... It's almost here. 

Gates open on Thursday, October 13th @ 3:00 pm!!

Let the Love a Fair begin!!